I'm not afraid of it, but it does depress me...just another gadget that replaces the need to think. And if I wasn't at the end of my career, I would worry about it, because it will replace my job as a cost estimator. In fact, it will decimate the white-collar work force. But then again, the blue-collar careers will flourish, because Hal the supercomputer can't fix a toilet, or hang off a utility pole restoring power after a storm. Which leads me to wonder...what are the jobs of the future, and what would you suggest a kid of today concentrate on for the career of tomorrow? I'll tell my grandkids to follow their parents' footprints, both have AI proof careers, ones a lineman and ones a State Trooper.
Afraid of AI?
- Thread starter venomballistics
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GypsmJim
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It seems that CEOs and like people keep getting more ruthless as time goes by. Their concern is for the stockholders, and let the employees be damned. And of course THEY are #1.
I recall a time when the CEO promoted "honesty, integrity, fairness and respect" for all employees. The problem was that many in upper management did not live by those principals.
I know of two current CEOs that are dishonest and lack integrity. THOSE 2 are now promoting AI, and their companies are leading the way. For THAT reason I distrust AI.
Look at all the bad things happening in the world today (i.e., Israel, Ukraine, to name a couple). I've said this before: "AI is the work of the devil". I hope that statement turns out to be wrong. But I don't have a lot of hope.
I recall a time when the CEO promoted "honesty, integrity, fairness and respect" for all employees. The problem was that many in upper management did not live by those principals.
I know of two current CEOs that are dishonest and lack integrity. THOSE 2 are now promoting AI, and their companies are leading the way. For THAT reason I distrust AI.
Look at all the bad things happening in the world today (i.e., Israel, Ukraine, to name a couple). I've said this before: "AI is the work of the devil". I hope that statement turns out to be wrong. But I don't have a lot of hope.
I think, like it or not, the AI genie is out of the bottle. Ready or not, here it comes.
I find it useful around the house for fixing stuff I don't know how to fix, and for projects I don't know how to proceed with on my own. And, as I have posted before, for rendering medical jargon into layman's English.
It's no substitute for a true expert — e.g., a plumber or a medical doctor — but it often provides a non-expert with enough info to get by absent an expert.
But you do need to use common sense when using AI because sometimes it will be simply wrong, or hallucinate (make stuff up.) One needs to keep a skeptical eye on it.
I find it useful around the house for fixing stuff I don't know how to fix, and for projects I don't know how to proceed with on my own. And, as I have posted before, for rendering medical jargon into layman's English.
It's no substitute for a true expert — e.g., a plumber or a medical doctor — but it often provides a non-expert with enough info to get by absent an expert.
But you do need to use common sense when using AI because sometimes it will be simply wrong, or hallucinate (make stuff up.) One needs to keep a skeptical eye on it.
25 years ago, all the rage was chip plants. That lasted about 5 years around here. Then Semiens pulled out and Motorola never happened. Now this area has become one of the largest data centers in the country. The company I work for has some large contracts for the cooling pipe. Suppliers and distributors can barely keep up with the demand. Right now the customers want it all as fast as we can make it. With pending tariffs, there's bound to be some big increase in material costs. Labor costs are up and labor is hard to get. Right now as far as construction, we are on a boom. How much longer before the bust?
Telecaster
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And it's guns they want to ban. 
It will have a field day.
Jon651
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I'm leery about AI because - like all new things - it is ripe for abuse, and the abusers are always the very first to step up.
Will it put people out of jobs? Well, here's a bit of a tale I already experienced with my great-nephew...
My great-nephew showed me a picture of him playing basketball. It was done in a very artistic style, like a painting, and in a specific genre he liked. It was incredibly detailed and very well done. He told me he made it, and I asked if he did it in his art class. When he told me he described what he wanted and an AI program generated it, the very first thing that crossed my mind was "I wonder how many graphic artists just lost their jobs because a kid with a smartphone can now make images that used to take both time and creativity and had a certain monetary value associated with them, but now are literally on-demand, created in mere moments, and essentially free?"
We are all familiar with great graphic artists such as Normal Rockwell. I've met a few over the years who have done cover art for hundreds and hundreds of books (my favorite was John Berkey). Every one of them could literally be out of a job. When you expand that view, just about any job that a person did on a computer (designing clothes, magazine and newspaper layouts, designing cars, and thousands of other similar jobs and careers) can be replaced by AI for a fraction of the cost and aggravation of hiring a person. This transition is not going to happen overnight, but it will be uncomfortable...
Will it put people out of jobs? Well, here's a bit of a tale I already experienced with my great-nephew...
My great-nephew showed me a picture of him playing basketball. It was done in a very artistic style, like a painting, and in a specific genre he liked. It was incredibly detailed and very well done. He told me he made it, and I asked if he did it in his art class. When he told me he described what he wanted and an AI program generated it, the very first thing that crossed my mind was "I wonder how many graphic artists just lost their jobs because a kid with a smartphone can now make images that used to take both time and creativity and had a certain monetary value associated with them, but now are literally on-demand, created in mere moments, and essentially free?"
We are all familiar with great graphic artists such as Normal Rockwell. I've met a few over the years who have done cover art for hundreds and hundreds of books (my favorite was John Berkey). Every one of them could literally be out of a job. When you expand that view, just about any job that a person did on a computer (designing clothes, magazine and newspaper layouts, designing cars, and thousands of other similar jobs and careers) can be replaced by AI for a fraction of the cost and aggravation of hiring a person. This transition is not going to happen overnight, but it will be uncomfortable...
GypsmJim
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My wife has cancer and thus sees a lot of doctors. After a recent EKG she got a text saying she just had a heart attack and needed more tests.
We both panicked. She called the doctor and of course he couldn't TALK to her but followed up a day later with another text.
"Oh you are fine. Don't worry. It was read by AI. When I personally read it, I saw you were OK".
We need to keep a skeptical eye on freaking doctors as well. If they can't take the time to do their job themselves, they should not be allowed to practice.
The devil is at work again.
WOW!!! I am not a litigious person...but that is one doctor that needs a dose of litigation.
I just received an email about something more frightening than AI...virtual healthcare provided by Amazon...God help us all.
Exactly what I am talking about. Doc should have checked the AI diagnostic analysis over before allowing the message to be sent to your wife. That's a bad system that allows AI to text diagnostic analysis without oversight.
I am not afraid of it, but it is going to cause a lot of changes. Perhaps even a lot more changes than the desk-top computer and the world wide web. Like all new systems it may run a while before we figure out how to make it safe. How long did it take for auto makers to put seat belts in cars?
I gotta find that JO vid. His bad language occas. gets to me but he pulls no punches. I still laugh at the piece he did on Infrastructure a few years ago.
But yes, it's not the technology itself but how we (mis-)use it. I posted an article a couple of days ago about how some nitwit in WA wanted to cut his salt intake and ChatGPT told him to substitute sodium bromide - with no warnings and he ended up in hospital for 3 weeks.
In some ways we are are our own worst enemy.
